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Lecture IV

Lecture IV. Understanding media, culture and technology Part II: Marshall McLuhan. Johan Lindell, Ph. D Student Johan.lindell@kau.se Media and Communication Studies Karlstad University. Lecture Outline. 1.) Harold Innis: Quick Revisit 2.) Marshall McLuhan – Main line of thoughts

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Lecture IV

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  1. Lecture IV Understanding media, culture and technology Part II: Marshall McLuhan Johan Lindell, Ph. D Student Johan.lindell@kau.se Media and Communication Studies Karlstad University

  2. Lecture Outline 1.) Harold Innis: Quick Revisit 2.) Marshall McLuhan – Main line of thoughts 3.) ”Newer” Medium Theory --Coffee-- 4.) McLuhan’s Wake

  3. 1.) ”Fifty years after his death, Harold Innis remains one of the most widely cited but least understood of communication theorists” (Comor, E. 2001).

  4. ’Medium theory’ is research on the particular characteristics of a medium and its impact on society (Meyrowitz, 1985)

  5. Innis’ main arguments: • THE BIAS OF COMMUNICATION (1951): Human agency limited by time/space Communication media help overcome these barriers in different ways: time-biased/space-biased Technology (communications) NOT completely determinant force: Rather communication media should be understood to help realize the course of intended human action in that they provide possibilities that project the course of development of a society towards overcoming space or time.

  6. Innis’ main arguments: • MONOPOLY OF KNOWLEDGE Communication media as ’expert systems’ controlled by specifc groups in society. Dominant means of communication are the channel through which most of societes information pass. Control of information -> Monopoly of Knowledge Case-study: Journalism in 2010 • ’Heuristic tool’ / Conceptual framework

  7. Joseph Goebbels, minister of propaganda, Germany WWII Control press -> Control public opinion Control public opinion -> ”is right” The one who ”is right” -> comes into power

  8. 2.) Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) • Born in 1911, Edmonton, Alberta • Professor of English literature and world famous communication theorist • The Toronto school of communication theory -> medium theory with: Harold Innis, Eric Havenlock and Northrop Frye • Innis’ student • McLuhan and the ’maelstrom’ = metaphor to McLuhans exclusive and holistic understanding – ”McLuhan the maelstrom observer”

  9. A Decent Into Maelstrom (Poe, E.A. 1841)

  10. McLuhan: Main Contributions The Medium is the Message The Global Village

  11. The Medium is the Message • We are Narcisuss • The extensions of man • Focus should be on the social impact of the technological medium possibilities, mastering – not on content and effects of content. • Placing us in the maelstrom, turn our heads from the hypnotizing reflection to what’s really important. • Foreword to Gutenbergs Galaxy = ”a footnote to the observations of Harold Innis” Narcissus by Caravaggio

  12. The Global Village Tribalization: • Pre-modern social organization • Closeness, locality. • Shared norms ethics, langue -> sharedculture. De-tribalization: • Modernity (printing press, industrialization, mechanization, urbanization)-> New social organization • Nation-states. Globally: Culturaldiversity Re-tribalization: • Post-modernity. Electronic revolution -> New, global social organization. • The global village. World culture

  13. The Global Village A metaphor for our planet reduced in all apects of its functioning and social organization to the size of a village by the effect of electricity since the advent of the telegraph – W. Terrance Gordon

  14. Innis vs. McLuhan • Loner vs. Celebrity • Political economy vs. Humanities/English literature • Dystopian vs. Utopian • Understand the biases of media to grasp societal change and power relations vs. Possibilities to predict and control technological developments and their impact on society as the extensions of man

  15. ”Newer” Medium Theory = ? + Marshall McLuhan, Medium Theory Erving Goffman, Sociology

  16. Joshua Meyrowitz • Medium theoryconceptualframework • Sociologicalempiricism and behaviourtheory • No Sense of Place (1985) • Main point: • New media create new social situations in which new behaviouralstructuresemerge

  17. Facebook as ”middle region”? Has the ”massification” of Facebook (around 200 million users worldwide) implemented a new type of social behavior? Is social networking private or public, front stage or back stage?

  18. 4.) McLuhan’s Wake Documentary on the life and philosophy of Marshall McLuhan. 2002. by Kevin McMahon

  19. References and Reading tips Comor, Edward. (2001). ’Harold Innis and the Bias of Communication’ in Information, Communication and Society. Routledge Goffman, Erving. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Anchor Habermas, Jürgen. (1962/1989). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Polity Press Innis, Harold. (1952). The Bias of Communication. University of Toronto Press McLuhan, Marshall. (1962). The Gutenberg Galaxy. University of Toronto Press McLuhan, Marshall. (1964). Understanding the Media: The Extensions of Man. Unversity of Toronto Press Meyrowitz, Joshua. (1985). No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behaviour. Oxford University Press Poe, Edgar Allen. (1841). A Decent into Maelstrom Rantanen, Tehri. (2005). The Media and Globalization. SAGE Publications Tomlinson, John. (1999). Globalizaiton and Culture. University of Chicago Press

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